Steelhead Fishing The Olympic Penninsula

Exploring Steelhead Fishing on the rivers of the Olympic Penninsula has been awesome. Your best investment is rain gear although the weather has been inordinately good according to the locals. Good, meaning 'not raining'. This weekend was even better, 55 degrees and sunny but makes for poor fishing, atleast that's what the locals say.

Steelhead evidently prefer cloudier water before they will enter the river from the ocean and these rivers have been unusually clear. Atleast that's what the locals say.

So far I've fished the Solduc, checked out the Bogachiel and Calawah, fished the Hoh, Clearwater, Salmon and Queets and still have a dozen more to check out.

I haven't had ANY luck catching steelhead although I had a big one on but I'll save that story for the campfire. I seem to only be able to catch (and release) bull trout. One 23". I have yet to catch (and release) any sea run cut-throat.

I'm starting to decipher the ubiquitous greens of west/wet side forests and will be doing some paintings that explore fishing the Penn although I'm currently working on urban landscapes It's great to have such world class landscapes such as the Olympic Penninsula close and accessible from Olympia, WA.

The Sonorran Desert, OUCH!

Boy howdy!  Cactus, dry washes and horny toads!  Betts finally drug me down to Arizona.  Now that we've been we will have to go back.  Thought I was on Mars.  Never saw such a hostile land.  Don't wanna walk around the desert at night.  Everything has stickers! and I mean serious stickers.  Even the critters have stickers!
But I gotta say that the sunsets were stunning, the sugauros (suharros) were cool.  They look like people.  old too.  you can tell the age of a suguaro by counting the arms, multiplying by 5 and adding 75.  many of them over 100 yrs old.
Weren't many birds for Bett's to watch as they are all down south.  Rivers go underground and lawns are made out of rock.  Needless to say, not much for fishin'.  Didn't even see a deer, antelope or elk.  Not even any road kill.
Phoenix is the land of freeways but they're probably the most artistic in the nation.  wonderful mosaic abutments.  the aesthetics are cool but gotta watch out for the drivers. no one uses turn signals and they all drive fast.  even the boulevards are 4 lane and speed limit is 40 although the school zones are 15mph.  I guess it's such a new town that they could lay it out for the automobile. 

Sedona was way cool.  built under a red rock mountain and surrounded by more.  We stayed at the Orchard Inn and I painted red rock mesa's from the balcony. 
Checked out the Cowboy Museum in Wickenberg and the Phippen in Prescot.  Learned that Phippen was a cowboy artist and he and Joe Beeler and a couple others started the Cowboy Artists Assc.,  He was the first president but died the next year.  Also met Maureen (Moe) Husberg at the Biltmore Galleries in Scottsdale.  Moe grew up in Sedona and knew all the 'greats' that painted there.  Her father was a painter and owned a gallery way before the place got discovered.  The Biltmore collection is a must.  www.biltmoregalleries.com All the great painters and more.  They had some great russian pieces as well as painters like Maynard Dixon.  The Scottsdale art walk on Thursdays, is big.  Hard to see it all in a day. 

We look forward to going back.  I hope to get into the Sonoma Plein Air Festival in the fall and have fun painting the red rocks around their. 
Also, a shout out to Eric Bowman.  Found a wonderful piece "Order Up" in the Bonner David Gallery in Scottsdale.  Way to go Eric!  He has a one man show there in April if you are in the area.

'scuse me Depak Chopra

Life is Practice



Stuck in mortality on Earth,

spinning their tires, craving entertainment,

gotta put a battery in everything while regretting what we have done to the planet,

knowing better, but can't help it,

our brief stay has managed to kill our own prospects,

we sing as we sink,

we worship science ( only invented soon enough ago)

put faith in numbers,

we have enshrined the moment,

never to escape,
even death is held at bey,

insulating each victim, conscripting birth to oblivion - the self is never born, only the flesh,

the self is never born.

Life is practice, get it right.

  

 I'm gonna be here, painting my arm off for 7 days.  As you can see by the flier the sale and reception will be 6-8 pm September 7th.  It's a great time with good food, drinks and fine art.  Hood River is an exceptional place to paint.  15 minutes in any direction can put you at the foot of snow capped Mt. Hood to the south, the luscious rain forest of the gorge in the west, Mt. Adams to the north or the arid basalt cliffs of inland desert of eastern Washington and Oregon.  All located on the might Columbia River.
       I have my favortie spots to paint but every year I find a new inspiration.  Plein Air painting allows a painter to paint from nature in the "open air".  I believe it's an opportunity to show others what another sees.  Things that one takes for granted get elevated to a special dimension by an artist. 
        The folks at Columbia Art Center do a fantastic job putting on this gig which is regarded as one of the premier juried plein air events of the region if not the nation.  It's always an honor to hang alongside some of the best painters around. 
         I look forward to seeing old friends and patrons and painting in Hood River, Oregon.  Hope to see you there.

On My 40th Highschool Re-union




Like bricks of memories

that build the house we become,

shaped by the mud of Love

baked in the oven of Hope,

others carry the memory of you like mortar

defining who you are, that you cannot know.

The closer we get to the grave,

the greyer those memories become

yet those memories that remain consume all the others.

It seems a long dance that is over to soon

and leaves us in Wonder at ourselves and each other.

like a portal that once one steps through,

the world is seen in a new light,

where children wear grey masks,

of happiness or tragedy
all are detouring from birth to death

becoming signposts to each other,

signposts of Truth.

With over 40 pieces in the Confluence Gallery our opening was a delightful success.  Six of my paintings found new homes.  Sculptor Simon Kogan and I shared our art with the Methow art community.  I thank the folks at the Confluence Gallery in Twisp for doing such a good job prensenting our work and their professional management of the opening reception. 

If you have a chance to visit the wonderful mountain community of Twisp and Winthrop, Washington, stop in and see the great work we have at the Confluence.  The show will be up untill July, 28.

Museum of Culture Annual Art Auction, Spokane, WA.,

I put two of my favorite paintings in the MAC Art Auction this year.  I'll miss them so I hope they find a good home and bring a good price as the Museum has suffered severe budget cuts due to the condition of the state budget. 
You can see more of what is in the show in the slick online catalogue; http://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/3/66712/131543/pub/  my stuff is on page 21 and 39.
The Auction is April 18 at the Davenport Hotel, Spokane, WA.

Eats the Sun 1.0, 30x40, oil

Another in the series, Eats the Sun. Show at the Confluence Gallery, Twisp, WA June, 2012

"Fist Full of Leather", 18x24, charcoal

Study for "Eats the Sun"

"The Sac Sewer's Needle"

"The Sac Sewer's Needle", 18x24, charcoal, study for gallery show.